The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 148 You come and I go
Like Gan Guoyang, Jordan had been looking forward to this game for a long time, and much longer than Gan Guoyang had anticipated it.

In 1982, when Michael Jordan was a freshman at the University of North Carolina, he saw a report about Gan Guoyang in a sports newspaper.

Gan Guoyang was playing in the CIF North Division playoffs at the time. He displayed overwhelming strength and impressive statistics in the game, rising to prominence almost overnight.

Jordan became very interested in him and followed the subsequent CIF California Finals, watching the live broadcast on CBS. He was one of the witnesses to that miraculous night of high ratings.

Later, during training at North Carolina, whenever Coach Smith told him, "You must always remember that somewhere in this world there is someone who works just as hard as you, or even harder," Forrest Gump would always come to Jordan's mind.

He often wondered how much effort a Chinese person had to put in to achieve success in basketball in a foreign country, and how much talent he possessed.

Not long after Gan Guoyang won the CIF championship, Jordan won the NCAA national championship with a game-winning shot for North Carolina at the more prestigious NCAA national finals.

After the final, Jordan started paying attention to Gan Guoyang's college activities, wondering if he would come to North Carolina, or go to UCLA, or perhaps another prestigious university.

Unexpectedly, Gan Guoyang joined the little-known Gonzaga University, which caused quite a stir in the college basketball world at the time.

Jordan felt sorry for Gan Guoyang, thinking that it was a waste for such a center to go to a primary school instead of a prestigious one—and it turns out that Jordan's poor judgment started a long time ago.

Gan Guoyang didn't play any games in 1983 and remained silent for a year. Jordan almost forgot about the name. Then, in the 83-1984 season, the name suddenly and quickly came into the view of basketball fans across the United States.

Gonzaga, like a wildfire, spread from a small corner of Northwest Spokane to the entire United States. Gan Guoyang was the one holding the torch. He led his team to victory after victory all the way to the final, and won what is probably the most exciting and highest-rated championship in NCAA history with a breathtaking game-winning shot.

That year, Jordan had been looking forward to meeting Forrest Gump on the court, but unfortunately, North Carolina was greatly weakened without James Worthy, and they were eliminated on their way to the next round.

From that moment on, Jordan felt that his destiny was being suppressed by Gan Guoyang. Later, when he joined the Olympic team and trained under Bob Knight, Gan was the only opponent who put him under great pressure and was the goal he had to surpass.

Gan Guoyang also outperformed him in the draft, as he went to the Trail Blazers, who had a more complete roster and a better team. In their rookie season, they were already able to compete with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Bulls, like a lump of mud in an abyss, faced stiff competition from the Celtics, 76ers, Pistons, Bucks, and Bullets in the more powerful Eastern Conference...

Jordan was not discouraged. On the contrary, he was full of energy. Like a penniless entrepreneur starting from scratch, he was determined to work from dawn till dusk, seize every opportunity to gain more benefits, and never waste a single second of his life.

He never complained. From the moment he stepped into the terrible locker room of the Chicago Arena, he decided to make it shine and one day let the glory of the championship shine here.

This is not a simple dream. Everyone dreams of winning a championship, and he is confident that he will put it into practice and keep striving towards this goal throughout his limited career.

On the court, Jordan initiated his first attack on the Trail Blazers' interior defense with the ball.

As always, Paxson was blown past on the perimeter, which masked his defensive weaknesses.

Even if you were to switch to a stronger defender to guard Jordan one-on-one, he would still get blown past you when he suddenly accelerated while dribbling the ball.

It's like taking a test: on a regular test, a struggling student gets 50 points and a good student gets 80 points; on a difficult test, a struggling student gets 30 points and a good student gets 50 points; on a really tough test, a struggling student gets 20 points and a good student gets 25 points...

Jordan is a nightmare to play against. Unless you're a top-notch defender, it's not much different for both average and average students.

At that moment, Thompson rushed forward and blocked Jordan's drive to the basket, and was called for a foul by the referee.

Mitchell Thompson now needs to focus on protecting Gan Guoyang and preventing him from getting foul trouble.

Thompson was once the number one draft pick and a core player for the team, but now he listens to Ramsey's instructions and is willing to be Gan Guoyang's wingman.

Jordan stepped up to the free-throw line and made both shots. He yelled at Gan Guoyang, "You don't even have the courage to stop me? Who said you don't need bodyguards?"

Gan Guoyang said, "Try to get in front of me first, and do you think you can stop me?" The two started attacking each other right from the start, and the atmosphere was full of tension. They were the kind of people who would not admit defeat either verbally or physically.

When Gan Guoyang received the ball in the low post for the fourth time, Jordan double-teamed him, and Gan Guoyang passed the ball to Paxson on the outside.

Paxson received the ball, faked out Jordan who was turning around and lunging at him, and made a mid-range jump shot.

It was clear from tonight's game that the Trail Blazers' offensive focus was on Gan Guoyang in the low post from the start.

After more than ten games of adjustment, Ramsey gradually formed a prototype of the system built around Gan Guoyang.

Ramsey has experience building teams around Walton, and of course he knows that Gan Guoyang is different from Walton. Gan Guoyang has a stronger scoring ability but is somewhat lacking in playmaking ability.

In the past Walton-Lucas frontcourt duo, Walton played a role of scoring a small portion and facilitating most of the offense, while Lucas played the role of scoring most of the offense and facilitating a small portion.

Ramsey's ideal scenario for the frontcourt pairing of Gan Guoyang and Thompson is for Gan Guoyang to contribute most of the scoring and a small portion of the playmaking, while Thompson would contribute a small portion of the scoring and a large portion of the playmaking.

The roles of center forward and power forward have been switched, but the tactical system is not as simple as two people changing positions. Ramsey requires Gan Guoyang to receive the ball in deeper positions, and at the same time, he needs to be able to hold the ball in the high position and have a mid-to-long-range threat in some attacks. In this way, he gives up the wide wing positions to Drexler, Vandeweghe, Paxson and others.

Gan Guoyang agreed with Ramsey's tactics. He was used to battling in the paint, while his mid-to-long-range shots from the high post were his secret weapon to occasionally tease opponents and leave them scratching their heads.

However, a system is one thing, but in a game, the system's tactics might only be effective for about 50% of the time, or even less. The rest often depends on the players' understanding and performance on the day.

Especially in the NBA, where the pace of the game is getting faster and the players are getting stronger, it is no longer realistic to run each offensive play in the same rigid way as in college and the 60s and 70s.

Bulls coach Raheem Lauhri understood this well. After Jordan demonstrated his growing influence on the game, he decisively freed Jordan from constraints, unlike Dean Smith who bound Jordan to the system.

After Paxson scored, the Bulls quickly inbounded the ball from the backcourt, passing it to Jordan, who accelerated past the defender and drove to the basket from the middle.

Jordan's breakthroughs and acceleration were like a car passing telephone poles—his opponents were telephone poles, his teammates were telephone poles, there were nine telephone poles on the court, and he was the only one speeding along.

However, this time he encountered a super tough guy under the basket. Gan Guoyang was waiting for Jordan in the three-second zone. When the two jumped together, Jordan passed the ball to Ulrich who was cutting in from the baseline.

Ulrich received the ball, drove to the basket, and slammed home a powerful one-handed dunk!

Ulrich is 6'9" tall and is a finishing small forward with a long wingspan and a very strong drive to the basket.

After Jordan arrived in Chicago, the two were known as the "Netbusters".

Ulrich was very excited after scoring two dunks. He clenched his fist and glared at Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang's attention was focused on Jordan at the start of the game. He didn't defend on the first play to avoid fouling, and he helped defend Jordan on the second play, but then he left Jordan completely unguarded.

"Don't worry, Orlando. I'll deal with you when I have some free time," Gan Guoyang warned Ulrich.

During the attack, Gan Guoyang did not go to the low post, but instead went to the high post to screen for Vandeweghe, allowing Vandeweghe to attack Ulrich.

Vandeweghe used a screen to break through to the basket on the left side, past Jones, and dunked with his left hand!
Then Ulrich tried to answer back, breaking through Vandeweghe, but was blocked by Gan Guoyang and fell to the ground.

After receiving the ball, Gan Guoyang made a long pass forward, which Vandeweghe received and then passed to Paxson, who was making a forward run.

Paxson went for a layup, but Jordan, who was chasing after him like a black panther, blocked the shot with a single blow.

(End of this chapter)